Improved mode of pitching barrels



HOLBECK & GOTTFRIED..-

Pitching Casks Patented May 3; 1864.

UNITED STATES J. F. TH. HOLBEGK AND MATHEWS GOTTFRIED, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVED MODE OF PITCHING BARRELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 412,580, dated May 3, 1864.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, J. F. TH. HoLBEoK and MATHEws GOTTFRIED, both of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Pitching Barrels, &c.; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal section taken in a vertical plane through the center of the apparatus which we employ in the operation of pitching barrels, &c. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section taken in the course indicated by red line a; x in Fig. '1. Figs. 3 and 4 are views of the tubular closing guard, which is applied to the barrels or casks in the operation of heating them.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

Before filling oasks with spirituous or volatile liquids it is necessary to render the casks impervious to air, the most common, and probably the cheapest, method of doing which has been to flow melted pitch or other substance into the pores and joints of the casks while they are in a heated state; but the difficulties hitherto attending this process arise in consequence of a want of some economical means of heating the casks without burning or seriously charring their inside surfaces.

Our invention has for its obj cct the preparation of casks for receiving pitch, or other melted substance suited to the object in view, by subjecting said casks to blasts of highlyheated air by means of an apparatus which will be hereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art to under stand our invention, we will describe its construction and operation.

In the accompanying drawings we have represented one mode of carrying our invention into effect, which consists of a furnace constructed of masonry, as represented by A, Figs. 1 and 2. This furnace is of a rectangular form, and has a vertical central opening, A, through it. Near the base of the furnace is a grate, a, beneath which is the ash-pit b, and above which is a fire-chamber, c, which is covered by a lid, 0, as shown in Fig. 1. An opening, d, is made through the side of furnace A, which forms an external communica tion with the internal chamber, A, either be.

low the grate or above this grate, as shown in 1 Fig. 1. This opening olcommunicates with a fan case, B, arranged outside of the furnace and furnished with a series of rotary wings or fans, 60, which may be rotated by any convenient motive power. The fans c c create a blast of air through the furnacechamber A. This air, rushing through the opening d and through the fire which is built upon the grate a, is allowed to escape through the passage 01, near the top of the furnace. Between this passage 01 and the cask which it is desired to heat we form a communication by means of a detachable pipe, E, which connects with tne short pipe E, that is secured around the passage d, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The removable pipe E may be made conical, as represented, so that the opening through the head of the cask D need not be very large, and this pipe is provided with a bow-handle, g, by means of which the pipe can be removed or adjusted in place without liability of burning the hands. The contracted end of pipe E enters a short tube, h, which passes through and is suitably affixed to a covering-plate, i, that is used to'closo or partially close the opening j, which is made through the head of the cask. This plate t should be somewhat larger than the opening through the head of the cask, and this opening should be of such form as to admit plate t, and to allow of this plate being adjusted, as represented in Fig. 1. When this plate a is adjusted 011 the inner side of the cask-head, opposite the opening therethrough, it may be confined in place by means of a key, k, which is passed between a flange formed on the projecting outer portion of the short pipe h and the head of the cask, as represented in Figs. 1 and 2. sired to render impervious to air is adjusted in properposition and a communication formed between it and the furnace A, as above described, a fire is made upon the grate a, and by means of the blast-fan applied to the furnace the heated products of combustion are forced into the cask, and allowed 'to escape therefrom through an opening at the bottom of coveringplate 2', as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1. When the cask thus subjected has become properly heated, so that the resin substance within it will readily flow into the pores and cracks or joints in the wood, the partsi and When a cask which it is de- E are removed, the opening through the head of the cask properly closed, and the cask rolled about until the melted resin has permeated every pore and interstice in its inside surface.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The application of heated air under blast to the interior of casks by means substantially as described and for the purposes set forth.

2. The use of a removable conductor, E, in

combination with a furnace and blowing apparatus, arranged and operating substantially as described. a

3. The tube-holding plate 5, in combination with the removable pipe E and blast-furnace A, substantially as and for the purposes described.

J. F. TH. HOLBEOK. MATH. GOTTFRIED. Witnesses:

CHAS. H. BARMM, M. FLEMING. 

